With a photo, you can capture a moment, and have it forever. I think we take that idea for granted, with photography being so ubiquitous these days. But seriously just take a second to appreciate that. If you did that in Ancient Greece they’d call you a sorcerer. Or a god.

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2. NOTICE THE DETAILS

Photography changes the way you see things. It’s actually quite an incredible transformation to experience. Suddenly you notice light, shapes, colours, textures, people, buildings, trees, flowers…Everything around you looks different when you start to see the world as a photographer.

3. SEE THE BEAUTY IN THE EVERY DAY

Once you start noticing details, you inevitably start to see how much beauty is all around you. Every day is filled with it—in the most ordinary or unexpected places. When you start to derive happiness from seeing some particularly awesome light, you’ll realise that photography has changed your everyday experience.

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4. LIVE IN THE PRESENT

And to round out this theme, photography, through its ability to help you see details and notice the beauty around you, helps you to truly live in the present. When you shoot you have to be aware of everything if you want to capture it. You can’t be thinking about the movie you watched last night, or what you’re going to have for dinner. Photography focuses you on the now, which is incredibly valuable!

5. FORGET YOUR WORRIES

Photography is something you get immersed in (see above!). You lose yourself in the shooting, and all your worries and daily stresses just melt away.

6. SHARE IT WITH THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE

One of the top ways people got into photography (according to our results) was through someone important to them. People credited their mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, sibling, friend and even great-grandparents. Photography is a passion that you can share with the important people in your life. You can pass it down to the next generation, and spur their love of this amazing art.

7. DOCUMENT YOUR FAMILY

And the MOST common reason folks got interested in photography was family—particularly having their own children. Photography is a way to document the lives of your kids, and that alone is worth learning all you can about it. One day you may also be documenting the lives of your grandkids!!

8. CAPTURE THE AMAZING RANGE OF LOVE AND EMOTION IN KIDS

Whether they are your own, a friend’s, or a client’s, kids are an amazing photographic subject. They see the world differently and often express a lot more love and emotion than adults. Being able to capture that is both a fantastic photographic challenge and a profound learning experience.

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9. IT’S A CREATIVE OUTLET

Everyone should have a creative outlet. There’s no use pulling the excuse that you’re “not creative”. Anyone can push the button on a camera, and point it at something they think looks cool. It’s honestly that simple to be creative.

10. MAKE ART

And the result of that creative act? You can create art. That just flat out rocks.